Guitarist
Jean-Paul Bourelly's ensemble combines his own heavy guitar sound and
R&B-tinged vocals, the passionate African chants of Abdourahmane
Diop, and the percussive drive of Samba Sock on boograboo (four large
African congas with bells) and Slaka on djembe. Reggie Washington (of
Steve Coleman renown) plays bass on four tracks, doubling the low end
with Big Royal Talamacus on "filtered boom bass," which sounds like
bass through a fuzz box. Two high-profile guest saxophonists, Archie
Shepp and Henry Threadgill, appear on several tracks, enlivening the
session with their free jazz sensibilities. Bourelly's work could be
called freeform funk-rock, with strong hints of Hendrix and Vernon
Reid, as well as the kind of focused-yet-free rhythmic attack
associated with Steve Coleman and the M-Base movement. The term "boom
bop" in fact captures it quite well. There's also a strong political
undercurrent in Bourelly's music, which becomes overt with the rap
lyrics to "Invisible Indivisible." On electric guitar, Bourelly is at
his best on "Three Chambers of Diop," where his wah-wah creates a wall
of sound with a unique kind of beauty. In a very different vein, his
solo acoustic guitar piece "Root One" would make any Jimmy Page fan
happy.